Important Information About Reaching Social Security During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Reading Time: 1 MinuteLast Updated: March 17, 2021
During the current coronavirus pandemic, we continue to provide help to you and other people in your communities. While our offices are not providing service to walk-in visitors due to COVID-19, we remain ready and able to help you by phone with most Social Security business. You can speak with a representative by calling your local Social Security office or our National 800 Number. You can find local office phone numbers online by using our Social Security Office Locator.
We offer many secure and convenient online services, where you can:
- Apply for Retirement, Disability, and Medicare benefits.
- Check the status of an application or appeal.
- Request a replacement Social Security card (in most areas).
- Print a benefit verification letter and much more.
Although you can do most of your business with us online, we know that service channel isn’t right for everyone. You can still count on us by phone. If you have a critical situation and we cannot help you with by phone or online, we may be able to schedule an appointment for you.
If you need help, please don’t wait until we can see you in person. Call us now and get the help you need. We also understand that getting medical and other documentation can be difficult due to the pandemic, so we are continuing to extend certain deadlines wherever possible.
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Tags: COVID-19, online services
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Mike Korbey, Deputy Commissioner for Communications
Mike Korbey, Deputy Commissioner for Communications
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Jeffrey E.
No one answering at Birmingham office. My lawyer has tried for weeks and now I’m trying. To see what’s going on with my backpay for SSDI since my attorney has already been payed. Thanks
Vonda V.
Hi Jeffrey, thanks for using our blog. We are sorry to hear about the difficulties you are experiencing in connecting with a representative. You can choose to call us at 1-800-772-1213 for assistance or you can contact your local Social Security office. Look for the general inquiry telephone number at the Social Security Office Locator to ensure you’re calling the right number. The number may appear under Show Additional Office Information. Please be aware that our call wait times are longer than normal. We hope this information helps.
Beth
I recently got married and need to do a name change. When would I be able to do that since offices are doing face to face visits.
Vonda V.
Hi Beth, thank you for using our blog. Check out our Frequently Asked Questions web page on how to change your name. If you do not want to mail in your documents, which will be returned, you may need to wait for the offices to reopen. Use our Social Security Office Locator to find your local office address. We hope this helps.
Karen K.
I have a phone appt. today Aug,5 2020 at 10:30am to start widow benefits that was scheduled 3 weeks ago and it is now 10:55am and they haven’t called.
How do I move forward and could you help me find out why I didn’t get a phone call?
Vonda V.
Hi Karen, thanks for using our blog. If you have not heard from your local office yet, please call them. Look for the general inquiry telephone number at the Social Security Office Locator. The number may appear under Show Additional Office Information. Please be aware that our call wait times are longer than normal. We hope this information helps.
Hospitals &.
The 2020 Annual Report neglects to consider the disparate impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on the disability insurance program. 8 million covered workers receive pandemic compensation that expires July 31, 2020 and another 22 million receive extended unemployment compensation from States until January 1, 2021. The $600 extra benefit every week sustaining the pandemic compensation program expires July 31 and was not re-authorized in a timely fashion by Congress. The number of disabled workers is certain to increase as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic for five months of 2020 and all of 2021. Low, intermediate and high cost estimates are needed for the DI program 2020 and 2021. In the low estimate a 3.3% increase in benefit spending over the previous year is estimated to provide benefits for one million new beneficiaries in 2020 and another one million in 2021, for a total of two million net new beneficiaries, this quota should be immediately implemented to protect needy COVID-19 disabled workers from being jerked around by an irresolute Congress on speed (ephedrine) regarding the termination of the pandemic compensation and extended unemployment compensation programs. The intermediate estimate provides for a 14% increase in benefit spending to provide four months disability benefits for about 4 million new beneficiaries in 2020 and all year 2021, plus about five million of 22 million extended unemployment compensation beneficiaries, for a 190% increase 2019-2021. On the high end, as many as 8 million unemployment beneficiaries may receive an average of four months disability benefits, for 20% growth DI benefit spending in 2020 and 80% increase in 2021 costs, plus 20 million who remain unemployed after the expiration of extended unemployment benefits on January 1, 2021, for as much as 280% enrollment growth. Administrative costs are estimated to increase $0.1 billion in the intermediate and $0.3 billion in the intermediate and high estimates. It looks like the DI Trust Fund should be able to afford the low-cost scenario if the OASDI tax rate is adjusted and the intermediate scenario if the rich and state employees are taxed. The high cost scenario, whereby all or most unemployment compensation beneficiaries receive disability is not affordable.
Disability applicants are advised to use Social Security Online before their worker privilege expires. All applicants will be treated to the Ticket to Work program and the needy to benefits pursuant Biestek v. Berryhill No. 17-1184 (2009). The Ticket to Work program must be fully funded to prescribe hydrocortisone, eucalyptus, lavender and peppermint (HELP) to ensure workers and workplaces are medically treated and facilitated to negotiate with repressive States indiscriminately prohibiting their industries. All tickets to state vocational agencies issued by the Commissioner pursuant to the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Act of 1999 Sec. 1148(b)(1) of the Social Security Act under 42USC1320b-19(b)(1), funded $3,747,830,155 in 2020, 2.7% annual growth from 2015 pursuant to title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 under 29USC§720(b)(1) shall contain a prescription for Hydrocortisone, Eucalyptus, Lavender and Peppermint (HELP). Essential oils of eucalyptus, lavender and peppermint cure coronavirus and mold allergies. A drop is topically applied with the index finger to the exterior of the nose and upper lip. Public restrooms need HELP from soaps and cleansers containing essential oils of eucalyptus, lavender and peppermint to be reopened. Corticosteroids are the definitive medical treatment for coronavirus and mold allergies. Cushing’s disease is a non-life-threatening side-effect of excessive life-saving corticosteroid use, its symptoms are fragile bones and puffy cheeks, and may a be a lead culprit in the high rates of total knee and hip replacement surgeries in industrialized nations. The non-prescription of corticosteroid inhalers to first time asthma patients is certain to be a leading cause of the dramatic rise in asthma and allergy patients over the past few decades. Hydrocortisone crème is a corticosteroid that is accessible over-the-counter, for as little as a dollar a tube. When a dab is applied topically to the exterior of the nose, hydrocortisone creme instantly cures coronavirus and allergic rhinitis due to mold. A dab of hydrocortisone crème can also be applied to the chest to treat the potentially lethal fluid filled lungs exhibited in severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) from coronavirus, the carcinogenic lung nodules of pulmonary aspergillosis and the coronavirus and mold triggers of asthma attacks for as fast a cure as a rescue inhaler and lower-cost and lower-risk of Cushing’s disease or potentially lethal malicious mold contamination than more expensive oral, inhaled and intravenous corticosteroids.
Naeem A.
Grateful for this helpful information. I am a newly arrived UN staff member on G4 to take up my assignment in Manhattan, NYC. I need to get my SSN. is there any way to get an appointment and obtain my SSN to help settle for my assignment in this esteemed country. With kind regards. Naeem Ahmad, UNDP staff member, 40 Ellsworth Ave, Harrison, NY 10528.
Cell No. 914-527-3604
Vonda V.
Hi Naeem, thanks for using our blog. We continue to process Social Security Numbers and issue cards for certain lawful immigrants, we call these processes Enumeration at Entry (EAE) and Enumeration beyond Entry(EBE).
If these automated processes are not available to you, we will schedule an in-office appointment for a new card request for those with a critical need. Appointment availability is based on available staff and office operating status. Please call your local office to see if an in-office appointment is necessary and possible. To contact your local office, please look for the local office telephone number at Social Security Office Locator under “Social Security Office Information” for the office you select. The toll-free “Office” number is your local office.
Sheree M.
I’m thinking about a retirement date, but need to know what my retirement might be if I use my ex-husbands info to retire versus my info. I have marriage certificate, divorce papers, but I do not have his SS#. Do I need that in order to find out what my best choice is?
Vonda V.
Hi Sheree, thanks for using our blog. If you are divorced and currently unmarried, you may be able to receive benefits on your ex-spouse’s record if your marriage lasted 10 years or longer. Your benefit as a divorced spouse can be equal to one-half of your ex’s full retirement amount only if you start receiving those benefits at your full retirement age. If you begin to receive benefits at age 62 or prior to your full retirement age, your benefits are reduced. The reduction factors are permanently applied to all of the benefits you qualify for once you opt to start benefits at age 62 or at any time prior to your full retirement age.
Remember, if you qualify for your own retirement benefits and for benefits as a divorced spouse, we always pay your own retirement benefits first. If your benefits as a divorced spouse are higher than your own retirement benefits, you will get a combination of benefits equaling the higher divorced spouse benefit.
See our Retirement Planner: If You’re Divorced for other eligibility requirements and more detailed information.
You can apply online by using our Social Security Retirement/Medicare Benefit Application to apply for retirement, spouse’s,divorced spouse’s or Medicare benefits.
Guru R.
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tony
Has the SSA ever considered that there could be a lot of fraud with doing everything online instead of in person?
People could be sending in their deceased family member’s identifications to collect Social Security retirement benefits.
XYZ
Why office are still close?
tony
The government is trying to save money after giving away trillions in COVID-19 relief packages. The are keeping the offices closed to save money. Postal offices are open in the epic center of COVID-19, but the Social Security offices are closed.
We need to get people back to work, so they can pay FICA taxes to support my retirement.
Not even one cent is made in FICA taxes by giving them the free $600/week unemployment benefits.
Those unemployed Democrats will be made losing the $600/week and show up to the polls come November. The unemployed Republicans will be mad and not show up at the polls come November. We just need to let these people suffer. Some have to suffer for the good of majority.
If the extra $600/week unemployment extension doesn’t work, then Trump will demand the FICA tax payroll deductions affecting the Social Security trust fund. They are already borrowing the money and not paying it back, but now want to steal it and not pay at all.
Vonda V.
Our offices remain closed to the public for face-to-face service. We are still able to provide critical services via phone, fax and online. For more information and to subscribe for updates, visit here. Thanks!
Kishan P.
These letter is my fourth time appeal to social security office that please schedule an appointment for my mother because she is at not able work without social security number and all the offices are closed. It has been five months and she had not received social security card. Please understand the situation and try to help us. I had talked hundreds of time with social security officers regarding this situation and every time they said that someone will schedule an appointment for you and hang up the call. She is unemployment and due to this pandemic it is very difficult situation for us.
Vonda V.
Hi Kishan, thank you for using our blog. We are sorry to hear about the difficulties you are experiencing with Social Security. We will schedule an in-office appointment for a new card request for those with a critical need. Appointment availability is based on available staff and office operating status. Please call your local office to see if an in-office appointment is necessary and possible. To contact your local office, please look for the local office telephone number at the Social Security Office Locator under “Social Security Office Information” for the office you select. The toll-free “Office” number is your local office.